bequeathed to the National Trust in 1972 by. Helen, their youngest daughter. Though many of their possessions were distributed among family and friends at ...
Views, Issue 53, September 2016. © National Trust
‘A much-loved family home’: reconnecting with the Beale family at Standen Anne F. Stutchbury, Volunteer Researcher, Standen, West Sussex, and AHRC collaborative doctoral researcher, University of Sussex
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or the past three years I have been researching Standen, the late nineteenth-century country house near East Grinstead designed by Arts and Crafts architect Philip Webb. Using texts, photographs, objects and the building itself, my focus has been on the Beale family, the original owners, and the part they played in the creation of the house and garden from 1890 to 1914. Standen was built between 1892 and 1894 for James and Margaret Beale and their seven children, and they were the only family to live in the property until it was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1972 by Helen, their youngest daughter. Though many of their possessions were distributed among family and friends at this time, the property was prepared for public display as a
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fine example of late nineteenth-century Arts and Crafts architecture and William Morris interiors. Today, Standen is admired not only for its architecture and decor but also for its qualities as a comfortable, ‘lived-in’ home where Beale family connections are valued and celebrated.
Family home Standen was initially the Beales’ country holiday retreat and became their main residence when James, a London solicitor, retired in 1905. From the very beginning, it was a place where family relationships were nurtured and renewed. Entries in the visitor books record that James’s brothers, Edwin and William, were among the first visitors to
stay at the new house in 1894: Edwin and his family visited for a few days in May and William and his wife were there in late July.1 Throughout the Beale years, family and friends gathered at Standen to relax and enjoy sporting activities and musical evenings. In their Memories of Standen, the Worthingtons, descendants of Amy, the eldest daughter, described how family amusements and leisure activities revolved around the younger generation: ‘From 1894 to 1902 when the family marriages began, it was the seven Beale children, Amy, Maggie, Jack, Sydney, Dorothy, Sam and Helen, and their many cousins (Beales, Fields, Nettlefolds, Kenricks, Chamberlains, etc.) plus school and university friends, who were the centre of splendid parties, excursions and celebrations.’
Reconnecting with family memories Since my research project began in 2012, it has not only facilitated a connection with many family descendants, some of whom have made additional archive material available, it has also regenerated interest in Standen from later generations of relations and close friends. Reconnecting Standen with Beale family history has taken many forms since the house was bequeathed to the Trust, from the recording of memories of visiting descendants in 1999 to the staging of a family reunion in 2006. As my project has progressed, general interest in the social and cultural context of the Beales’ life at the house has grown, more donations of family archives have come back and another family reunion held this summer welcomed over 170 guests. To focus in more detail on one aspect of reconnecting with the Beale family, this article showcases a few of the significant family objects which have recently been reunited with Standen. They represent a lasting material connection with the Beales’ early time at the property. The grand piano, for example, which was generously donated in January 2015 by one of Dorothy’s descendants, originally stood in the bay window of the Hall and was always at the centre of family entertainment. It is a Broadwood Grand Piano No. 4, ‘Drawing Room’ model, ordered when the hall was enlarged in 1898. This instrument was once at the heart of family life, symbolising harmony and merriment, as the Worthington memoirs recall: ‘Between the wars was the era of family holidays, big parties at Christmas and during our summer vacations, musical evenings with ’Cello (Priscilla), flute (Barton), Violin (Phyllis), and Piano (Amy, our mother, or Betty); Helen or Amy sang, Sam gave a good Scot’s imitation of Harry Lauder and Maggie performed a slow rhythmic scarf dance, swinging her long string of uncut emeralds …’.2
Contents reunited with Standen Another recent donation, this one from Sydney’s family, included a box of nearly 100 glass-plate negatives, many corresponding to photographs taken by the Beale family
Opposite left: The Beale family at Standen, 1902; standing, from left to right: James, Edgar Worthington (Amy’s husband), Amy, Sydney and John; seated, left to right: Samuel, Margaret, Helen, Algernon Field (Margaret’s father), Maggie, Daisy, baby Marjorie and Dorothy. © National Trust/Standen Left: The Beale family and friends in the Conservatory at Standen, c.1898. Taken from one of the glassplate negatives converted into a digital image by Simon Lane, University of Sussex. © National Trust/Standen
between 1885 and 1905. The existence of these plates and negatives reveals much about the family’s interest in amateur photography. Mrs Beale’s Store, a room in the servants’ wing, also known as the Flower Room, was originally adapted by Webb for use by family photographers. As Amy’s youngest daughter, Phyllis Wager, remembered when she revisited this room in 1999: ‘… there were the original shutters which had special arrangements for letting a certain amount of light in, because it was my mother [Amy Beale] who was a very keen photographer, and all the rest of the family followed suit, and they did all their photography in this room …’3 Simon Lane, University of Sussex, has converted some of the negatives into digital images. Many match the photographs which the Beales carefully arranged in family photograph albums. There is an image, for example, of the Drawing Room fireplace dated 1899 which shows a copper fender resplendent with sunflowers to complement
the scheme of the room. The fender was designed by Webb and crafted by eminent Arts and Crafts metalworker John Pearson in 1894. Helen gave it to Philomena Tas, the nurse who looked after her before she died in 1972. Last year it was kindly donated back to Standen by Philomena’s husband and Helen’s farm manager, David Tas. It is now displayed in its original position in the Drawing Room fireplace. Webb’s account journal for Standen records that he paid £8 for the fender when he collected it from Pearson on 21 December 1894.4 Alongside Charles Ashbee, Pearson was one of the founding members of the Guild of Handicraft in 1888. However, his relationship with the Guild became tenuous once it was discovered that he was supplying his work to other firms such as Morris & Co. Besides that, he had a preference for signing the pieces he produced, a practice frowned upon by Guild members because it was against the spirit of collaboration, one of the Guild’s core principles.5 Clearly, this did not Revelation and reconnection
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Right: The Drawing Room at Standen, c.1899. © National Trust/Standen Below right: The copper fender back in situ. © National Trust/ Sally Robertson
deter the Beales from approving Webb’s choice of craftsman to produce the Drawing Room metalwork since Pearson was also responsible for making the copper fireplace cheeks and the seven electric light sconces that were designed by Webb and integral to the original aesthetic accents of the room. These objects not only exemplify the Beales’ preference for quality craftsmanship and individuality but they are also a fine example of Pearson’s repoussé work, referred to by Webb as ‘embossed copper plates’. It was a metalworking technique which consisted of beating up the copper metal from behind while it rested against a firm surface and then finishing off the design using more delicate tools from the front.5
Conclusion I hope that this article has briefly illustrated how the Beale family and their experience of Standen is integral to the cultural and social history of the property. As a consequence, connecting and reconnecting with the original owners of the house either through archive texts, their past possessions or through the family descendants of today should continue to be a crucial element of Standen’s interpretation agenda to ensure its enduring status as a ‘much loved family home’.2 52
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References 1. Visitor Book 1 1894–1910, Standen, p.1, Standen Archive. 2. Worthington family, Standen Memories Part I, Standen Digital Archive, p.8. (The quote in the title and at the end of the article, ‘Standen has always been a much-loved family home’, is from p.1 of this archive.)
3. Mrs Wager’s memory of Standen (Transcript Oral Archive SOSTSO 3A), September 1999, Standen Archive, p.34. 4. Philip Webb, ‘Account for Holly Bush House 1891 to 1896 (Photocopy) – (A Record of Accounts and Fees Paid)’, 1891, STA09/File 3, Standen Archive, Regional Records. 5. Alan Crawford, C.R. Ashbee: Architect, Designer & Romantic Socialist (Yale University Press, 2005).
